


Mimura Takuya Monogatari - A new Mission

by sky_fish



Series: Early Works 2012-2014 (unedited) [8]
Category: Arashi (Band), 山田太郎ものがたり | Yamada Tarou Monogatari | The Story of Yamada Taro (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-03
Updated: 2012-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26143693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_fish/pseuds/sky_fish
Summary: In the beginning, it has been Mimura Takuya's intention to make a match between Yamada Tarou and Ikegami Takako. But even when his plan failed and Takako's interest in Tarou disappears, Takuya can’t say that the same is happening to him.
Relationships: Mimura Takuya/Yamada Tarou
Series: Early Works 2012-2014 (unedited) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828948
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Just my own fictional continuation of the story of the drama Yamada Tarou Monogatari.  
> (Notes from August 2020:  
> Reposting this fic from my lj/dw in slightly edited form.  
> Originally published between October and December 2012)

In the beginning, Mimura Takuya's intention had been to make a match between Yamada Tarou and Ikegami Takako in order to make Tarou happy with a nice girlfriend. Even if Takuya normally wasn’t the type of person who was interested in other peoples' lives, that had changed completely, when he met Tarou back in high school. Somehow, Takuya became really obsessed by his classmate's life.

Tarou was a really fascinating boy. He was intelligent and competed easily with Takuya and the other top students when it came to the high score in a test, even if he didn't care that much about his position in the rankings. Takuya had already found out that Tarou’s only goal was to keep his grades good enough to be eligible for the scholarship of their school because his family wasn’t able to pay for his school fees. Rivalry itself, though, was something Tarou only knew from the dictionary, or since he had met his "sensei" in supermarket wars, Ikegami-san, Takako's mother, when it came to getting the cheapest special offer.

Besides his good grades, Tarou was also really popular at school. It didn’t matter if teacher or student, everybody liked him and – of course – every single girl (and a few boys, too, actually) was dreaming of getting married to him one day. 

Well, in terms of being a wanted bachelor, Takuya was pretty popular as well. However, so far, he had never been interested in a relationship and had turned down every single confession he received with a "Thank you but I'm too busy with studying" or something similar. To be honest, he hadn’t even had the slightest crush on a girl so far. His grandfather used to call him a late bloomer, and Takuya didn’t mind.

And Tarou? Tarou had no eyes for girls and relationships either. Tarou's whole love (and he had a lot to give) was dedicated to his family and they were many – 6 siblings and a really nice but pretty helpless mother. His family and delicious food was practically everything, Tarou cared about. Not even Takako, a classmate of Takuya and Tarou who managed to befriend them, had been able to get Tarou's attention. 

As mentioned in the beginning of this story, at first, Takuya had had the intention to make a match between Tarou and Takako in order to make Tarou happy. But since Tarou simply was not interested at all, Takako had had quite a hard time. Even now that the three of them were enrolled as university students, the situation had not improved at all. One day, Takako had given up and started dating another young man from her social studies course to finally get over her unrequited love towards her helpless Ex-Prince Charming Yamada Tarou.

Even if Takako's interest in Tarou had disappeared like that, Takuya could not say that the same had happened to him. More than that, it felt like the contrary. The longer he was friends with Tarou and the more time they spent together, the more he became interested in him. Takuya sincerely admired Tarou for his patience and his all-time happy face. He admired him for his passion than enabled him to manage to study hard besides having to take care of his family and working in several part-time jobs in order to earn money for them. They were poor and Tarou's mother was staying at home, unemployed, because of health issues. She tried to manage the younger kids' daily life more or less (the trend went towards "less"), but needed Tarou’s help with a lot of things in the house. Tarou's father was, again, on some mysterious journey through the world, only sending a few of his paintings from time to time that the family could sell for money. With no less than six little brothers and sisters, Tarou really had his hands full. The boy was in charge of going shopping, cooking, helping his siblings with homework, housekeeping in general and on top of everything, had to study for university.

Takuya really admired him for all his energy. Luckily, the elder ones of Tarou's little brothers and sisters started to become more independent lately – or at least tried to – and every time Tarou was feeling out of energy (even if that did not happen really often), Takuya caught him falling and tried his best to cheer his friend up again. Of course, Takuya didn't like it when Tarou wasn’t feeling well, but in some little corner of his heart, Takuya felt a little bit proud when he was the one being able to help Tarou out of moments of misery. Also, these were the only moments in which he and Tarou were alone. Sometimes, Takuya hated himself for feeling that way, but perhaps, this was just part of how friendships worked – it came with the desire to be the one helping the other person and being the one that made them smile.

Usually, Tarou was a lone warrior. His family always in mind and the whole responsibility on his shoulders made him blind towards other things in the world. He did not really have time for things like friends or after class activities, sports or dates. Takuya once had to show Tarou what it was like to spend a few days with friends, only, leaving behind the family. In the end, it had turned out to be a nice trip with schoolmates but Tarou had still been worried about the helpless bunch of Yamadas creating huge chaos at home. Thank god, the Yamadas had improved lately so that Tarou sometimes even found the time off to meet with Takuya after classes to hang out, before Takuya usually walked him back home.

Even if Tarou was mostly bubbling about his family, reporting to Takuya about what his smallest siblings had learned recently, being proud of his younger brother's good baseball playing, complaining about his younger sisters first boyfriend (who, of course, was an idiot – at least that was Tarou's opinion) and Takuya never really got to tell anything out of HIS life, he didn't mind. He just kept smiling and nodding and added a few comments here and there, sometimes to tease Tarou a little bit, sometimes to cheer him up when he needed it. 

Takuya wasn’t really sure about the relationship between him and Tarou. Sometimes, he thought that there was a strong connection between them, other times he wondered if that what existed between them could even get called "friendship". It felt a bit lonely, sometimes.

It wasn’t that Tarou didn’t care about his friends but most of the time, he was just too busy caring about his family. It didn’t happen often that Tarou came to visit Takuya, however, whenever Takuya felt lonely at his home which was a pretty big house with a lot of servants serving only him and his grandfather who didn't really have time for him, he often went to the Yamadas and joined dinner providing some meat or other specials they could not buy often. 

At least when he sat at the Yamadas' table together with all of Tarou's siblings, he felt like he belonged to them. Maybe also the youngest one's question when Takuya finally would marry Tarou had helped to make him feel welcome. Takuya liked that feeling. He really did. Even when the small house did not have space for all of them to sleep in their own rooms and even if the rooftop had at least one new leak every time it started raining, it felt comfortable. A lot more comfortable than staying alone at home in his own big room that was just too big for Takuya.

Sometimes, Takuya wished he had a family like that too. But then he realized that he was fine with his own familiar situation. That was not the problem. What he really wanted was to be part of Tarou's family. Not only because all of the cute brothers and sisters or Tarou's really nice parents, more than that, he just wanted to be with Tarou.

TBC


	2. Part 1

The moment Takuya first realized something strange about himself was when he found out about Takako giving up on Tarou and starting to date another university student. At first, he thought it was because he had failed his self-imposed mission to "make a match between Tarou and Takako". But then he realised that there was actually a stronger feeling than the disappointment - a much stronger feeling – a rock falling off his chest when he finally decided to bury that mission.

The next time Takuya got suspicious about his own feelings was when a university professor asked him a question, feelingly out of the blue when the student didn't pay attention to the lecture at all and instead caught himself watching Tarou for the whole time. The other boy had not even been doing anything special, he had just been marking some pages in his lecture books but for some reason, Tarou's beautiful hands, Tarou's focused look and Tarou cutely biting his lips from time to time had been much more interesting than the lecture.

Even worse was the trouble Takuya found himself in while he was searching for a birthday present for Tarou. The years before it had never been difficult since the invitation into a nice restaurant had been more than Tarou could ever wish for and so he had been the happiest person under the sun with a simple outing to a burger restaurant. This time, though, Takuya found it really problematic to find the right present. He felt like inviting Tarou again was not good enough. He wanted to give him something more, something _special_. A present that Tarou would like to keep with him every day, something that he would treasure, something that made him think about Takuya.

The whole situation had become officially strange when Takuya ended up calling Takako in his despair, asking her for help and her reaction had simply been a knowing giggle and the offer to come along with Takuya in order to find the right present for their friend. 

Since Takuya was _really_ desperate, he had taken the offer and was now standing there on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of a shopping street, checking the time on his cell phone while waiting for a girl. He was excited, somehow, even if a little nervous about this new mission to find the perfect birthday present for his best friend.

"Mimura-kun!" he heard a lively voice behind him a few minutes later. The young man turned around and greeted Takako who came running with a big smile on her face. "Am I too late? I'm sorry!" she said.

"No problem, Ikegami-san," Takuya waved and smiled back. "I'm sorry for stealing your day off, I bet you would prefer going on a trip with your boyfriend…" the boy really felt a bit guilty but well, it had been her offer so it must be OK, right?

"Don't worry. He's busy today with his part-time job so I have some time at hand. So… where should we start?" 

The girl looked around for checking which stores they had available and which of those had the potential to find a nice present in.

Takuya looked pretty helpless. For him it was quite unusual buying presents for friends since he never really had had such close friends as Tarou before. The only person he had to buy presents for was his grandpa and since Takuya wasn’t an elementary school student any longer and had understood, that handmade potato stamps weren’t as great as a present as he had thought when he’d been a little boy, he had advanced to buying tickets for some random classical concerts of a famous orchestra or a traditional opera for his grandpa and himself as his companion to these occasions.

"What did you buy last year?" Takako tried to remember but failed.

She only knew what SHE had bought. An embarrassing CD with a lot of love songs on it, which she had given to Tarou with a self-made heart-shaped cake. The cake had turned out much too small for the whole Yamada family so Tarou didn't even get one slice of it and further the Yamadas didn’t even own any CD player so the CD had been pretty useless as well. All in all, it had been a huge disaster. This year, a simple birthday card would have to do, she decided.

"I didn't buy anything," Takuya answered her question. "I invited him to a really expensive Italian restaurant. You know how much he loves good food, right? And what should I say, in the end, it turned out to be REALLY expensive because his whole family tagged along!" 

Takuya chuckled at the memory of a flustered Tarou asking Takuya if it was OK to bring his mom and his siblings with him. Who could have denied those puppy eyes their wish? Certainly not Takuya.

"That's really nice, though!" Takako joined in the laughing.

She could imagine how embarrassed Tarou must have been but she could also imagine that it must have been impossible to keep the invitation a secret from the little Yamadas. Of course, she could imagine too that Tarou, in the end, had been the happiest that his siblings had been happy as well. That’s how much his family meant to him.

"So why not doing something like that again?" the girl suggested.

Takuya hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed. "I'm not sure what but I want to give him something special, something that only belongs to him and that he does not have to share with his family."

Takako grinned and gave him a knowing look. "I think I get what your problem is," she said before she started to walk.

"What? Which problem?" Takuya frowned.

But Takako didn't go into detail for the time being. Of course, she had that particular suspicion already for a long time. To be honest, it had been really obvious even if Takuya seemed not to know about it himself. Or at least not yet. Somehow the girl found that innocent and cute. Well back then when she had been in love with Tarou she didn't find it cute at all. It really troubled her. But now since she was happy with her boyfriend, that feeling had disappeared and now she wanted to help Takuya instead.

"So…," she, therefore, ignored Takuya's question and put on a thinking face. "What could it be… you want something special, right? Something that Yamada-kun cannot share with his siblings. So, I guess it should _not_ be something to eat!"

Takako and Takuya laughed. She was right.

Takuya thought loud again. "Yeah, I want to give him something… like a unique keychain maybe? Ah, I don't know, I'm not very creative, I fear."

"I think we will find something. Let's start in this shop here!" Takako grabbed Takuya's arm and they entered a clothing store. 

Did she think about something to dress? Well, the thought was not bad, if Takuya gave Tarou a shirt or something that had only his size, the younger ones could not complain, right? 

Both of them were looking for something special. Takako grabbed a few different patterned scarves to show them to Takuya. He really liked them and he could imagine Tarou wearing such a scarf very well but somehow it just wasn't perfect. Not perfect enough. After all, scarves could only be worn when it was cold or windy and since they didn't have a special size the risk that Jiro, Yoshiko, Itsuko or another Yamada offspring wanting to wear it too was just too big in the end. So even if Takako and Takuya had a lot of fun trying different clothes and discussing which colour or which pattern would fit Tarou best, they left the store after about half an hour to continue their search for another present.

At first, Takuya thought that it would be a good idea to buy a book. Something that Tarou didn't read yet. Maybe a detective novel would be the right choice, a thriller or a funny manga like Takako suggested. But at the book store, the young man remembered that Tarou did not really have time for reading something else than the lecture for his university studies. And a manga would just be too interesting for the younger ones. Sighing Takuya put back the book he had held in his hand. It would be best telling Takako that they could leave again.

"Ikegami-san, how are you? I didn't see you since… what was the last course we both attended?" that was Tarou's voice.

Tarou's voice?! Takuya turned around in surprise. Takako had been caught by Tarou who smiled broadly. Oh no, why did they have to meet him now of all times when they wanted to buy something for him in secret?

"That's right, it's been a while. I'm fine, I've got a boyfriend now!" Takako answered and Takuya rolled his eyes. Besides her happiness, he could hear her slightly hurt pride.

"Really? That's great! Congratulations!" Prince Charming stabbed another knife right into the princess' heart.

"It is!" princess Takako found her proud again very quickly. Past love has to be forgotten, right? "What are you looking for?"

Tarou put out a small list and frowned.

"I have to buy a few books for university. I hoped they were a bit cheaper, though. Ah, Takuya-kun!" Tarou waived at his friend when he saw him walking up to them.

"Tarou-kun, hello!" he answered with his usual friendly smile before he came to a halt next to Takako (was that another frown on Tarou's forehead?) "Ikegami-san, let's go into the next shop."

"You didn't find anything? OK, then we have to leave now, let's meet again soon, Yamada-kun!" Takako said her good-bye and went along.

"Bye, bye," the young man answered and waived behind her.

Takuya said good-bye as well. He had to hurry so that Tarou would not be able to see into which shop he and Takako would go next just in case they found the perfect present there.

"Uhm… Takuya-kun!" suddenly, Tarou called his name again.

Takuya turned around and gave his friend a questioned look. Somehow, Tarou looked a bit troubled.

"What is it?" the taller one asked wondering, but somehow Tarou seemed to have changed his mind. 

"Ah, nothing…" he smiled again his heart-warming cute smile to assure his friend that it didn't matter. "Have a nice day you two!"

"Thank you. See you!"

Outside, Takuya breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to get the surprise ruined because he got caught in the middle of buying a present for his best friend. So he hurried after Takako who already waved at him excited in front of another shop and left behind Tarou who looked after him with a worried look that Takuya, of course, didn't notice.

TBC


	3. Part 2

After checking out a store full of totally cute but maybe not really for a young man fitting plush toys, pillows and other girly stuff, Takuya started to get a bit frustrated. He still hasn't gotten the right idea for Tarou's birthday present and Takako was not really of help either, pointing out that her boyfriend gave her this toy and that toy and sweets and stuff.

When they left the store again they saw Tarou who was checking out the fresh vegetables on the streets' markets with a serious look. Of course, most of them were just too expensive so he only stood there, sniffing at the best-looking ones and put them back again with a huge sigh.

"Mimura-kun, what do you think about following Yamada-kun for a while? Maybe this way we can find out what he likes," Takako suggested grinning.

Takuya smirked. "I've got the same idea as well! But we have to be careful so that he doesn't notice us."

Takako nodded. Both started hiding and watching over every single action of Tarou. They held a lot of space but took care to not lose sight of him. And, of course, the young man did not notice them at all while he was looking for food. In the end, he didn't buy anything at the market. Takuya sighed along with Tarou, feeling the urge of jumping out of his hiding place, buying empty the whole vegetable store and giving everything to his friend just to see him smile again, but he held back.

When Tarou came along a pet shop he suddenly stopped. Takako and Takuya went into hiding again. In front of the pet shop's door, there was a small space with cute little kittens who were meowing heart-breakingly and clumsily tapping around on their adorable too huge looking paws.

"They are so cute," Takako whispered, pointing at them. Takuya put down her hand and showed her to be quiet. Curiously, they watched Tarou's reaction.

The young man bent down and looked at the kittens with a big smile, calling them "cute" and "Neko-chan". One of the shop's employees encouraged him to pick up one of them to take a closer look. Tarou put down his bag with the university books and took out one of the cute little kittens. The one he had chosen was red-white-striped and had big round blue eyes everyone would get weak for when seeing them. Tarou looked like he was going to melt away and he couldn't resist pressing the fluffy kitten against his face, the soft fur brushing against his cheeks. After a few minutes, he put the kitten back again and with a sad smile he waved good-bye as he left.

Shortly after that Takuya and Takako stood in front of the kittens, watching them. They frowned.

"Hmm," Takako frowned. She seemed to be thinking the same as Takuya.

Of course, the young man had thought about buying the cute little kitten to give it to Tarou but even if such a cute animal would make Tarou happy, keeping a little kitten was expensive, counting in all the food and not to forget the even more expensive bills of the vet. And yeah, also imagining the little Yamadas wanting to play with the kitten, pulling it at its tail and its fur, yelling and arguing who would be allowed to hold it in their arms first didn't really help either.

"I can't do that," Takuya concluded a bit sad as he bent down.

"No, not really," Takako agreed, following his gesture. "But… they are really cute, aren't they?"

"Hm!" Takuya nodded.

\-----

Since Takako and Takuya had spent at least about the next thirty minutes with petting all the cute kittens, they had totally forgotten about following Tarou who by now was already miles away. After the stop at the pet shop and visiting a few more stores without being successful in the hunt for a present, Takuya and Takako decided to take a break. 

As a "thank you" to Takako for borrowing her time today, Takuya insisted on inviting her to something like cake or ice cream or whatever she preferred. So they ended up sitting in the outdoor area of a nice Café, Takuya drinking an ice coffee and Takako enjoying a really delicious looking sundae topped with a lot of fruits and sauce. Actually, it looked SO delicious, that Takuya desperately begged to take one of those big pieces of melon. Finally, Takako allowed him to take one.

Just the moment when the young man leaned over the table to pick the most delicious looking piece of fruit, someone passing the street stopped immediately. His filled shopping bags dropped to the ground and a few tomatoes and potatoes rolled away.

"What?"

Both, Takako and Takuya looked up wondering and gasped in surprise when they recognized Tarou standing there, wearing a similarly surprised look on his face, surrounded by dropped shopping bags from the supermarket with much cheaper vegetables and fruits than the ones that he had looked at on the streets' market.

"Yamada-kun!" Ikegami exclaimed, smiling at him.

Luckily, they hadn't been discussing the planned birthday present right now or the boy would have found out about their secret plan.

"Ikegami-san, Takuya-kun… you hang out together a lot today, huh?" Tarou stated with a critical look.

"Uhm, yeah, we went shopping together," Takuya replied, telling the truth but not telling everything.

"How nice," Tarou said and smiled or at least, tried to smile. Somehow it turned out a bit odd, "Well then... have fun eating your shared ice cream, see you!"

After that, not wasting any more time, Tarou collected the dropped vegetables and pushed them back into the fallen bags quickly before he was up and away in about a few seconds. Takuya and Takako looked at each other, confused.

"He's acting a bit strange today, isn't he?" Takuya asked the girl sitting in front of him and took another piece of fruits just before she could scold him.

"Yeah," Takako wondered as well, a suspicious look in her eyes.

"Maybe one of his siblings is in trouble about something? I'll phone him later on and make sure everything's OK," the boy said and ordered the bill to pay when Takako slowly finished her sundae.

"You think so? I don't know, maybe he is the one being in trouble this time," Takako pointed with her spoon towards the direction in which Tarou had left in such a hurry before she dug in to finish the last bit of already melted ice cream.

Takuya frowned. "Maybe some trouble at university? But he never has trouble with his studies, I know him!"

"Or maybe he just misunderstood something right now," Takako guessed. Did she know more than the young man?

"What do you mean?"

"You really don't get it?"

Apparently, not. Takuya lifted his eyebrows in question.

"And you are supposed to be one of the smartest people in town? Really?!" the young woman giggled while standing up and getting her bag, ready to continue their shopping tour. "Seriously, you're too cute! Both of you!"

TBC


	4. Part 3

Of course, Takuya asked Takako about her suspicion regarding Tarou's strange behaviour and, of course, Takako just smiled and didn't really give a proper answer. She wouldn't tell him. But she knew something, that much was clear. Finally, Takuya gave up. He was convinced that he would find out sooner or later, anyway. He wasn't "one of the smartest people in town" - like Takako said – for nothing, after all. But today was not the day and so only time would tell.

When Takuya returned home from his shopping tour with Takako, still without the perfect present for his best friend in sight, his grandpa was already waiting with dinner. While they were sharing their meal the elder man seemed to remember something important. He looked at his grandson, eyes wide open.

"Ah, Takuya, I almost forgot, your friend called but you weren't here."

"Friend? Who?" Takuya asked, but his thoughts were immediately on Tarou. Well, he did not have that many friends so it had to be Tarou who had called, right? "When?" he added.

"Yamada-kun, of course," Takuya's grandpa giggled. So he had been right, "It was about half an hour before you returned. I'm not sure what he wanted, in the end, he said it was nothing important and just hung up."

"Nothing important? So why did he call then?" Takuya frowned.

"I don't know but he sounded a bit troubled. Maybe you should call him back," Takuya's grandpa answered and continued eating out of his bowl of rice with a wondering look.

Immediately, Takuya jumped up, dropping his chopsticks with a loud clang onto his dishes and hurried to the corridor. Just before he stepped out of the room he turned around and looked at the elder man.

"I'm sorry, Grandpa, I'll finish eating later on but I have something important to do right now" he apologized and ran into his own room where he immediately reached out for his cell phone.

He had saved the Yamada's cell phone number on first speed dial since Tarou still didn't have an own cell phone but even if the number would not have been saved, Takuya would have been able to tell it in his sleep.

While Takuya seemed to get more and more nervous for some reason, the phone kept ringing until someone picked up the call. Finally! Takuya's heart jumped.

"Tarou-kun? I heard you called, I'm sorry I was still out," the young man immediately started.

"Mimura-niichan?" a cute young voice asked, cutting off Takuya's words.

"Oh, Jiro-kun? Is this you speaking?" at least it was definitely not Tarou.

"Yeah, it's me. You want to talk to Aniki?" the young boy asked and Takuya laughed.

"Yes, I'm sorry I seemed a bit rushed. Is he at home right now?"

"Wait for a second, I'll call him for you!"

"Thank you."

"Aniki! Aniki, it's Mimura-niichan, he wants to talk!" the young boy screamed. Takuya could hear every single word and put the cell phone a bit away from his ear. "He's in the kitchen right now. Maybe it will take him a bit," the boy afterwards informed the waiting caller and carried on screaming for his elder brother.

Takuya heard the sound of an opening door and was sure that it was Tarou's voice he could hear in the background shortly after that. The young man sounded a bit in a hurry (not surprising, as he was cooking for so many people), maybe a bit angry (maybe because Jiro was screaming). "Tell him, I'm not at home right now..."

What?

"What? But that's a lie! You're cooking right now, I already told him that you're in the kitchen," Jiro said surprised and Takuya could hear Tarou struggle.

"Well, I don't wanna talk to him right now, make up something else for me, please, Jiro."

"I can hear his voice," Takuya commented soberly. "You should cover the earphone properly if the caller isn't supposed to hear what you're talking about, or at least whisper."

"Oh... he heard you, Aniki," Jiro stammered after hearing Takuya's advice. 

Takuya could hear Tarou curse in the background. He would maybe find that funny or cute or both if all of it would not have happened for the purpose of lying to him.

"Well I have to continue cooking or it will scorch."

Takuya frowned. 

"I thought Tarou-kun phoned me because he wanted to talk to me?" he asked Jiro confused.

What the hell was going on? Why was Tarou avoiding him now?

"Hm... seems like he has changed his mind? I'm sorry, Mimura-niichan, he just left," Jiro apologized for his elder brother and then his voice lightened up again, "but would you like to come to visit us again soon? I would like to play with you!"

"Really? Well, would be fun, right?" Takuya smiled when he heard the younger boy saying that and felt a bit of pride in his heart. The kids liked him, he knew that and it made him really happy.

"Yes! And would you mind to bring along some sweets maybe? Please!"

Takuya laughed, silently hoping that the sweets weren't the real reason why Jiro wanted him to come to play.

\-----

Early next day Takuya was standing in front of the Yamada's door. He was smiling widely, holding up a huge package from the nearby bakery filled with lots of different pieces of unbelievable delicious looking cake – one piece for each member of the Yamada-family plus one for himself.

"Takuya-kun, what are you doing here?" Tarou did not seem as pleased as he usually did when Takuya came to spend time with the Yamadas (and brought along cake).

"What's with that face, Tarou-kun?" Takuya pouted. "Jiro-kun invited me over for playing and so I thought since it's a Sunday..."

"Well, that's nice of you but I really have my hands full of work," Tarou obviously tried to get rid of Takuya, "and I don't know if Jiro even is here right now."

"Mimura-niichan! You came! And you thought about the sweets, that's great, come in!"

"Ah, Jiro!"

Tarou shot a deadly look towards his younger brother who looked quite shocked for a second but then decided to ignore his brother's mood and therefore got hold of Takuya's present even before the young man could give it to him. He was already up and away, calling the other Yamada offsprings.

"Minnaa~ Niichan brought cake!"

The children’s' joy was not to overhear.

"May I come in to join the cake-session?" Takuya gave his not-to-resist smile and Tarou finally gave in with a sigh and showed him the way in.

Takuya felt some strange pain in his chest. Why did Tarou treat him like that? He didn't want to talk to him on the phone and now didn't even want him to visit? Normally, he would be happy about such things.

It didn't last long and the last crumbs of cake were scarfed up. Like always. And now the younger Yamadas as well as Tarou's mom were lying widespread on the floor around the table and sighed happily.

"That was so delicious!" Yoshiko stated.

"It really was, that strawberries... like a dream!" Itsuko slobbered over her already killed strawberry cake.

"Thank you, Mimura-niichan!" all of them shouted.

Tarou was the only one who did not look that happy. Not at all. He just sat there, still the fork for his piece of cake in his hand, scratching the plate, his forehead crinkled. He did not even notice that one of his younger brothers has already stolen half of his chocolate cake a few minutes ago.

"Didn't you like your cake, Tarou?" Takuya finally asked to kill the awkward silence between them, "We could have switched if you prefer cheesecake."

"What?" Tarou looked up right into Takuya's eyes for just a second and then dropped his sight immediately. "Ah, no no, it was delicious...." the young man replied mumbling but it didn't sound very convincing.

Somehow Takuya was disappointed. No overly happy face, not even a smile he got from Tarou today. Normally, cake worked. Tarou loved cake and it was the most fun watching him enjoying his cake. But today the cake had failed disastrously!

"Come with me. Now!" Takuya finally said and grabbed Tarou's hand.

He pulled him up to drag him out of the room into the Yamadas' garden. Tarou didn't want to follow and tried to prong the table with his fork to get hold of it but Takuya just didn't let go off Tarou and he was much stronger than the other man. So the fork dropped onto the floor and Tarou got dragged away under protest.

"Wa-wait! What are you doing?!" he complained.

"That's not the question! What are YOU doing?!" Takuya asked when he finally stopped. He turned around to Tarou again with a serious look on his face but he still didn't let go off his hand.

"You behaved pretty strangely yesterday when Ikegami-san and I met you. Then you call at my place but when I phone back you suddenly don't wanna talk to me anymore and even try to make your brother lie for you! And today you are not even finishing your cake?! What's wrong?! That's not the Tarou I know!" the young man really sounded worried.

Tarou looked at Takuya, his lips slightly parted as he wanted to say something but he didn't reply immediately. Takuya tightened the grip around Tarou's wrist. The boy looked desperate but after a few seconds of hesitation, he took a deep breath.

"Why am I the strange acting one? You... you and Ikegami-san start dating without even telling me, I think THAT is really strange," the boy finally dropped before he blushed, staring to the ground.

Takuya didn't get it immediately and stared at his best friend in disbelieve. "What? Wait, when did I start dating Ikegami-san?"

Did Tarou get something wrong?

"Do you think I'm dumb? Just because I'm a bit naive sometimes you think I couldn't see it? It was so obvious, Takuya-kun, really!" the boy pulled away his hand from Takuya's grip, "Going shopping together, sharing ice cream, she said she has a boyfriend now and then YOU show up right behind her..."

Takuya frowned. Was Tarou talking about yesterday, when he and Takako were trying to find a good present for Tarou?

"Wait, you think I was on a date with Ikegami-san yesterday?!"

"Yeah, I'm not blind, you know?! It's just, I..." Tarou seemed to be embarrassed and at a huge loss of words.

"OK, wait," Takuya intervened. "I don't get what this is all about, but you're jealous because you think that I'm dating her? I thought you were not interested in her?" 

The young man really was confused now. He didn't think so far in first place but well, now all of that strange behaviour of Tarou made sense. He must be jealous.

"Jealous? I'm not jealous!" Tarou denied immediately, his face turning a deep red. So, he REALLY was jealous...

"Liar!"

"I told you, I'm NOT jealous!"

He was. And somehow Takuya was jealous, too. Now all of a sudden Tarou had developed feelings for Takako? Now that she got a boyfriend and Takuya didn't have to share Tarou with her any longer? Yes, Takuya just realized that he felt jealousy as well. He didn't want Tarou to like Takako... Actually, he had never wanted that.

"She has a boyfriend now," even if that would hurt Tarou's feelings, Takuya had to point out.

"That's not the point."

It was not?

"What is it, then?" Takuya wondered.

"You don't get it," Tarou sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"Then explain it to me," Takuya claimed and Tarou was at a loss again.

"I... don't really get it either."

Seriously?!

"You... I don't know what else to say," Takuya shook his head.

And apparently, Takuya wasn't the only one at a loss of words.

TBC


	5. Part 4

While Takuya and Tarou were talking outside in the garden, Yoshiko, one of the Yamadas' daughters crawled towards her sister Itsuko and gently pushed her shoulders. Most of the other kids had fallen asleep, the youngest ones – their little bellies still filled with delicious cake – curled up at the left and right side of their mother, who had fallen asleep as well while Jiro was moaning because he had eaten too much. Of course, since he was the one who stole half of Tarou's cake before.

Itsuko opened her eyes and looked at her sister with a questioning look on her face, who laid her finger onto her lips and showed the girl to silently follow her. The girls tip-toed out of the room and hid on the terrace, out of sight from Takuya and Tarou who were still talking (nearly fighting) about something so that they could still hear every single word.

Itsuko asked her sister with a whispering voice, "Why are they fighting? They get along so well usually, Aniki is so happy when Mimuranii-chan visits us but why not today?"

Her elder sister smiled knowingly when they heard the conversation of her brother and Takuya and patted her sister's hair.

"Itsuko, you still don't know much about love, right?" she whispered back and pointed to both of them in excitement. "Did you ever wonder why Aniki's smile is even wider when Mimuranii-chan is around? Why he is even more enthusiastic and puts even more effort in making dinner when he joins? Or what do you think, why does Mimuranii-chan always look at Aniki with such a gentle smile and such soft eyes, you noticed it as well, right? It's just too obvious."

Itsuko wondered. Sure, she had noticed something like that but did she get the right meaning of all this?

"I think, they just make each other happy somehow, right? But today it's strange. Is there something wrong? Are they sick? Don't tell me that Aniki is sick," the little girl started worrying.

Yoshiko smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry. They are not sick, well, not in a bad way, at least. They are lovesick. Sometimes it's a bit complicated when people like each other, you know? But I think they will be alright."

She smiled towards her little sister encouraging and Itsuko's face lightened up again. She looked at her sister with an admiring face. 

"You're so clever, Onee-san, that must be because you already have a boyfriend, right? You must know a lot about love."

Yoshiko blushed and smiled proudly.

While the girls kept on spying on Tarou and Takuya without exchanging any further words, their conversation seemed to come to an end or – better said – seemed to run into a dead-end.

"I don't know what else to say," Takuya finally gave up.

Tarou just didn't react in any way. He just stood there like some little boy at a total loss of words. 

"Maybe I should leave now, it doesn't seem like you believe me that I'm not the one dating Ikegami-san. Well... believe what you want," Takuya seemed to have resigned.

Yoshiko nearly hit her head on the railing of the terrace the girls were hiding behind and Itsuko frowned.

"That's bad," Yoshiko murmured.

"Wait, didn't they both get something wrong?" Itsuko wondered.

"I think so, yes," Yoshiko sighed. "I knew that Aniki might be a bit helpless in such a situation but I'm surprised about Mimuranii-chan. I guess I overrated him. They need our help!"

Even before the girls could decide whether or not they should jump in and save the situation between those two helpless guys, their mother came out and waved towards Takuya, maybe not getting that he and her son held some pretty serious conversation right now. When Takuya noticed her, she asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner. Tarou turned around in surprise and gave his mother an unbelieving look.

"Yamada-san, that's really a kind offer," Takuya began putting on a smile and ignoring (or respecting?) that Tarou should be the only one to be allowed to invite other people for dinner (at least he was the one doing the cooking), "But I, uhm, my grandpa is already waiting for me so I should head home now. Thank you very much."

Suddenly, Jiro popped up behind his mother, still holding his stomach because he ate too much already. He was pouting.

"Mimuranii-chan, you want to leave already? Didn't you want to play with us?" the boy asked.

"I'm sorry, Jiro-kun, let's play again next time, OK?" Takuya smiled towards the boy and waved good-bye to the Yamadas before leaving.

He looked at Tarou for a moment before turning around, who answered his look but still didn't say a word and instead dropped his look to the grass around his feet again, not even saying good-bye to Takuya. He sighed deeply instead, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead.

When Takuya had left, everyone was still quiet. Then, Tarou turned around and stormed back into the Yamadas' house. When he passed his mother, the woman asked him if something was wrong but he just said that he didn't feel well and wanted to rest. He grabbed a blanket and just laid down onto the floor in the living room, curling up in one of the small room's corners. He put the blanket over his face so that only the tips of his hair were popping out. It was obvious that he wanted to be alone right now and since he didn't have his own room, everyone (of the awaken Yamadas) just respected that for a while.

Later, while Tarou's mother desperately tried to cook a good meal for all of them, the younger kids couldn't contain their curiosity anymore and started hanging around their eldest brother, trying to cheer him up.

"Don't you like Mimuranii-chan any longer?" Itsuko asked. "Why did you have a fight?"

But Tarou didn't want to talk about it and just silently shed a tear which could only be seen by Yoshiko. It made her feel like she was at a loss as well, seeing her brother in such a state. How could she help him to understand? He didn't know anything about "love" outside of their family since he never had had the time or the chance to discover and explore that kind of feeling. He'd always had been there with busy with the family and school, barely even having time for friends, but there had to be a time when a certain type of feeling would awake within Tarou's heart. Thus, Yoshiko was convinced that it was "love" what triggered that specific pain she could see in his eyes.

Tarou couldn't believe what Takuya had said just before. He was sure that he had seen him on a date with Takako yesterday. Did he think he was stupid? It had been too obvious. But why had Takuya lied to him about it? And why did Takuya think that all of this had anything to do with Takako in the first place? It had nothing to do with Takako, Tarou had to admit, but how should he explain that to his friend when he didn't understand the full meaning of all of this, either? He was confused. So confused...

"You like him, don't you?" Yoshiko finally asked smiling, reaching out her hand to wipe away the small tears from the corner of her brother's eye.

"I-I'm so confused, what should I do, Yoshiko? Do you think I'm really jealous? Is Takuya-kun right? Is this feeling jealousy?" Tarou asked in a low voice.

"I think so, Aniki, but don't worry, that's not always a bad thing!" she tried to cheer him up.

"Why? It hurts so much, how can this be a good thing? I hate it!" Tarou pouted and frowned again.

"You know what, Aniki? I think that's what is called being in love. That's why it hurts."

"In love?!" well, that was a shock.

"People often feel jealous or don't want to share someone with others when they are in love. When you're in love with Mimuranii-chan, and don't want to share him, that's normal."

"I'm not _in love_ with him..." the young man protested immediately, finally sitting up again. "And he is dating Ikegami-san."

"Are you sure about that?" Yoshiko asked with a serious look.

"Pretty sure," Tarou sighed. "I saw them together."

"Maybe you misunderstood something. Aren't they friends as well? Maybe they just met as friends."

Tarou swallowed. Would that be possible? Takuya had said as well that he was not dating her. But what should he trust more? Takuya's word or his very own eyes? And if they had met as friends, why hadn't they called him to join them, like during High School? The young man looked into his sister's eyes, searching for the right words. She waited patiently - and sent Itsuko into the kitchen when their mother cried out for help - until her brother spilt it out.

"Even if we assume that I am... _in love_ , he's a guy just like I am, right? He would think that I'm strange liking him in THAT way," he began.

"So you admit being in love with him?" the girl grinned knowingly.

"What, no I didn't - but, just hypothetically," OK, who was he trying to convince here? "He might find something like that strange, right?"

"Maybe not?" Yoshiko decided to push her brother a little bit further.

"And how can I be sure about that?" Tarou still was at a loss.

"Maybe you should ask him? I think that he misunderstood as well and that he now thinks that you like Ikegami-san," the little girl added one and one and showed her brother the easiest solution.

"What?! I never said that!" the young man said shocked.

"He didn't say that he likes her either!"

She had a point.

"But I could never ask him!" Tarou blushed badly and tried to cover his face behind his hands.

"Why not?"

Yoshiko was just pushing a little too much for Tarou's taste right now.

"It's just... it's just... too-" again he was at a loss of words.

"Embarrassing?" one of the other siblings helped him out.

"Yeah!" Tarou bought that word.

"That's what love is about!" Yoshiko concluded.

"You are making this sound horrible! Being in love is being jealous and being embarrassed? Who wants that?! Also, I told you, it's not _love_!" the young man blushed even more. "By the way, you're frightening me! How is it possible that _you_ know so much about that topic at your young age, Yoshiko? Is it because of that guy-" Tarou tried to switch directions and indicated the relationship of his little sister and the boy she called her boyfriend, "Should I be worried?" he looked at her. 

"What? No, don't worry!" Yoshiko replied, blushing a little. "It's just, there are those magazines going around at school, they are pretty popular and my friends talk a lot about them. It's pretty interesting stuff!" she explained. "Akiko lent me one of hers, do you want to take a look?"

Tarou hesitated for a moment, biting his lower lip but regarding the circumstances...

"Well, it doesn't hurt to educate oneself, right?" he concluded. At least, it couldn't get worse.

So Yoshiko ran towards her school bag and opened it for grabbing the mentioned magazine. The cover was pretty girlish, full of pink sparkles and flowers, a cute anime-like mascot and a young girl as the model of the month or something like that, showing some of the latest trendy fashion accessories with a glossy smile. Tarou gave his sister one last critical look and while the Yamadas' mother called for dinner, completely exhausted, Tarou stood in his corner of the room and opened the magazine with a mixture of curiosity, scepticism and hope. Maybe his sister wasn't right. Maybe that feeling that was building up within his heart for the last few years towards his best friend were not what was called "love". He just had to find out...

\-----

The following night Tarou learned a lot more about love out of that pinkish, girlish magazine than he learnt from real like during the last almost 20 years of his life. He read about that strange feelings your heart and your body made you go through when you're in love and what you feel when you touch, see or even just think about that one special person you're in love with. He read about the twitches in your heart, the deep sighs that leave your lips from time to time, the urge to suddenly smile uncontrolled when that person comes up your mind. He even learned more about that feeling called jealousy that was tightening his chest so much these days and he was truly relieved when he found in cold print that he hadn't turned into a bad person just because of that feeling. At least it was something totally normal when you were in love and as long as you didn't live it to an extreme or hurt other people because of it, it was not a bad thing at all but rather proof of how important someone was and even a compliment to the beloved person.

Tarou sighed. Somehow all of this sounded so simple, but at the same time, it felt so complicated! The magazine and his own thoughts kept Tarou awake for a long time. His heart and his head were driving him nuts and Tarou sighed deeply when he realized that the only person he could think about the last hours was his best friend - Mimura Takuya. So, his sister must have been right... Right?

He kept thinking about Takuya, imagining what it would be like to share ice cream, what it would feel like to go to the cinema and to hold hands in the dark, he even tried to imagine, how it might feel to be kissed since that was apparently the most exciting thing you could do with the person you were in love with...

When Tarou had to get up the next morning, he was not more than a shadow of his former self. His thoughts had been distracting him too much, he had barely slept for an hour, two max and so, it probably wasn't a surprise that he completely messed up when he tried to prepare breakfast for his family while fighting not to fall asleep. Tarou managed to burn eggs and to spice the rice too much this morning. His siblings were shocked and his mom worried a lot. When he left the house he didn't notice that he was still wearing his pyjama shirt underneath the jacket he usually wore for university, his hair was a total mess and he had big dark circles around his eyes.

"Is he... wearing two different kinds of shoes?! What on earth is wrong with him?" Jiro asked his sisters Itsuko and Yoshiko, who were tying their shoelaces.

Itsuko gave him a crooked smile, seemingly searching for an excuse for her brother but Yoshiko was the first to answer. 

"Don't worry, we will help him after school, right Itsuko?"

The girl smiled. She seemed to have a plan.

TBC


	6. Part 5

When Takuya got up the next morning, he noticed that he had slept awfully the past night. He hadn't been able to get rid of Tarou's shocked and the same time sad expression from the previous day. He would feel sorry for him if he didn't still feel such a hurtful stab in his heart when he remembered the whole scene and their fight. They barely fought, after all, he wasn't used to it. And he hated it.

Somehow, Takuya was in trouble. In fact, he had TOLD Tarou that he was NOT dating Takako but the young man who seemed totally shocked about "Takuya is dating Takako (or at least it looked like that)" hadn't believed his best friend at all and instead had blamed him for not telling him the truth.

But there wasn't anything to tell since that "date" had just been a meeting between friends on the hunt for a good birthday present for another friend. But how could Takuya tell Tarou this without spilling the beans about his plan? He wanted to surprise him, after all. So, in the end, everything he'd been able to do was to watch how Tarou got jealous because he suddenly seemed to have feelings for the girl he had completely abandoned so far and to see how he did not believe his best friend. Great. Takuya really had experienced better days in his life.

But well, he had decided that Tarou should believe whatever he wanted to believe, it was not his fault. If the boy wanted to confirm his assumption, he could ask Takako. At least, Takuya had other worries. For example, he was still searching for the perfect birthday present for Tarou but his mind was blank as a white sheet of paper.

\-----

Moreover, his sorrow increased immensely, when he arrived at university. Tarou was unexpectedly late for class and muttered something about being sorry and that he had mixed up the schedule when he bumped in and disturbed the lecture, which was totally uncommon. Even more than that, he looked like he was in real trouble.

Takuya's eyes (and every other student's as well) nearly popped out of his head when he saw how his best friend had left home this morning. Not only had he the darkest circles ever around his eyes (maybe he didn't sleep well either?), further his hair was a complete mess (which looked a bit cute though, Takuya had to admit) and he was wearing the shirt of something that looked like a pyjama as well as two different kinds of shoes. He seemed completely out of place that day. He didn't know the answers to the questions the professor asked him, he read out the wrong lines, and Takuya's palm met his face when it turned out that Tarou even had forgotten to do his homework.

Quickly, Takuya was full of worries about his friend. Since there was always a little space between them and Takuya did not want to disturb classes with whispering towards Tarou (who seemed to ignore his friend anyway) he tried to exchange small letters with Tarou. Therefore he pulled out a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote _"What's wrong, aren't you feeling well?"_ onto it. Then he folded it into a small paper plane and waited for the next moment the professor turned his back to his students for writing something onto the blackboard.

Takuya let the paper plane fly towards Tarou who seemed completely worn out, his head resting on his arms, eyes almost closed while dozing off a bit - and then the paper plane hit Tarou's nose! The boy jumped up in surprise, releasing a short scream. Takuya, as well as the rest of their class, cringed, all eyes suddenly pinned onto the young man who still seemed to panic a little, his arms accidentally throwing away the paper plane into some unseen corner of the classroom.

Upset, the professor turned around and sent the too loud student with messy hair out of the classroom. Tarou couldn't believe what was happening but followed the instructions while Takuya felt guilty and in his mind apologized to Tarou for triggering the tantrum. He could feel the eyes of those people pinned on him who had noticed that it had been him who had caused that little plane crash but fortunately no-one spilt the beans.

\-----

When Takuya and all of the other students left the lecture hall for changing to another one, Tarou was sitting on a chair in front of the hearing room, his arms crossed and his head dropped to the side, resting on his shoulder. He had fallen asleep. Takuya's heart jumped a bit and he couldn't help but smile when he saw his best friend's cute sleeping face. He liked that face ever since he and Tarou had been put into the same class back at High School. A sleepy, relaxed Tarou was rare and precious, but Takuya even liked it more when Tarou was smiling. Unfortunately, lately, he hadn't seen Tarou smiling much...

Takuya hesitated for a few seconds before he bent down and gently woke up his friend with a pat on his shoulder and a whisper of his name into his ear. When Tarou woke up, he backed off immediately, blushing badly when he recognized Takuya. He jumped up.

"You surprised me!" Tarou complained before he looked around a bit puzzled. "Wait... what time is it?" he asked so he could figure out which class was next.

Takuya told him and they went there together but when Takuya asked Tarou how he felt, the young man just murmured something about not having slept well and further ignored his best friend's attempts to keep the conversation running.

In the next hearing room, Tarou unexpectedly decided to switch seats and sat down immediately in the last row, completely unnoticed by Takuya who went to the front where he and Tarou usually sat. When he noticed that Tarou hadn't followed him, the teacher had already entered the room. Takuya frowned when he noticed Tarou's change in behaviour. Was that another mistake by Tarou because he was sleepy or was he avoiding him?

When classes were finally over and the students were released for lunch break, Takuya hurried towards the back row to pick up Tarou but when he arrived there, Tarou had already left the room. Takuya cursed when he could not find his friend anywhere around the campus. He sighed deeply. OK, now it was clear. Tarou was avoiding him.

Takuya didn't manage to finish lunch in time since he spent half of his lunch break searching for Tarou. On his way to Chemistry classes for which he was already a bit late, he unexpectedly met Takako who seemed to have classes in the same building today. She waved at him and Takuya returned the gesture.

"Mimura-kun! How are you?" the girl asked but did not really wait for a reply. "What's up with Yamada-kun today? He seems totally spaced out!"

"You saw him?" Takuya asked, relieved, looking at the young woman with curious eyes. "Where did he go?"

"You mean the strange guy with messy hair and two different kinds of shoes, yeah?" Takako laughed. "He hurried somewhere into this direction," she pointed to the left corridor. So, Tarou went to Chemistry classes at least. "What happened?"

Takuya hesitated. Of course, he considered telling Takako the whole story about Tarou thinking that he and Takako were dating and about Tarou totally being jealous but when he saw Takako's worried eyes, he decided not to tell her. Maybe he worried too much but what if she was still in love with Tarou in some little corner of her heart? She could drop her current boyfriend right away and run right into Tarou's arms if she found out that he liked her and Takuya really didn't like that idea. No, to be completely honest, he even felt sick when he imagined that scenario.

He slightly shook his head to get rid of that cruel pictures in his head. No, he really did not intend to push Takako right into Tarou's arms, they had had enough chances in the past that he even had made up for them, right? It was enough.

"I don't know," Takuya lied before he waved good-bye to the girl and hurried to catch his class.

Now he was really late. He started running and wondered if this was the reason for his suddenly fast-beating heart. What was that feeling again? Why felt his heart so strange right now and why did he get overwhelmed by the feeling of not wanting to share Tarou with anyone else? He had felt the same thing yesterday. Somehow it felt like panic. Wait, was he being jealous as well? That must be it, right? Great.

\-----

"Stop stalking me!" Tarou freaked out when he suddenly turned around to Takuya, out of breath.

His friend had even followed him home after their last class of the day.

"I'm not stalking you, usually we go home together, did you forget? Maybe you feel like being stalked because you are running away from me?!" Takuya fought back, pouting and resting his hands on his knees, secretly glad for the short pause. Then he pointed towards Tarou. "By the way, did you notice that you're wearing two different kinds of shoes today?"

"What?" Tarou frowned at his best friend before giving in to the urge to check his feet. His jaw dropped. "Oh my god, you're right!" he burst out, looking at Takuya totally puzzled. "I totally didn't notice!"

The other looked at him with a worried look. 

"Seriously, what's wrong with you today? Are you alright? I'm really worried!" he said, pleading Tarou with his eyes to tell him what was troubling him. 

Was it still because of him and Takako? Then he should just go to Takako and ask her about the situation straight ahead. Takuya was sure she would tell him with pleasure that there was nothing going on between her and Takuya.

"That's none of your business," Tarou muttered.

There it was again! That painful stab right into Takuya's heart.

"I have to hurry home to prepare dinner. See you tomorrow," Tarou said before he started running again. Why did that sound so much like an excuse today?

Takuya tried to catch up again, shouting that he just wanted to talk but suddenly two little arms grabbed his elbow and pulled him right into the next hedge. The young man stumbled, lost his balance and landed on the grassland attached to a children’s' playground. Who the heck did something like that?

"Shhhhh!" two little kidnappers said, putting their small fingers on top or their lips. "Don't scream! We won't harm you!"

Takuya chuckled, relieved. Of course, they would not harm him! How could they?

"Yoshiko-chan, Itsuko-chan!" he said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

Little Itsuko, standing there, hands crossed, was wearing a serious look on her face. Suddenly, she frowned, even more, looking towards her elder sister Yoshiko, asking, "That's a good question, Nee-chan, what are we doing here?"

Yoshiko sighed. Well, she didn't tell her little sister every single detail of her plan so far, so she better explained it now. She smiled and offered Takuya a hand to help him stand up again.

"We are on a mission! We want to help you!" she said right away.

"Help me?" Takuya wondered. How should those cute little girls help him?

"Yeah, with that _thing_ between you and Aniki," Yoshiko continued and Takuya perked up his ears.

"What do you know about that _thing_ between me and your brother?" the young man tried to find out but Yoshiko didn't seem to be willing to tell him everything.

"I think we already know more about that _thing_ than both of you do!" the girl pointed out. "But before we can tell you every single detail, you have to check something out, just to be sure! And don't take it lightly! That's really important!" Yoshiko emphasized. "You know that Aniki is the most important person in the world for us, right? We don't want him to get hurt!"

"Yeah, I don't want him to get hurt either," Takuya said, still not getting what exactly Yoshiko was talking about. He waited for further instructions. "What is it that I should check?"

Yoshiko reached out her hand towards her little sister. "Please hand _it_ to me, Itsuko!"

The little girl gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Yoshiko sighed dramatically. She stepped closer to her sister and opened Itsuko's school bag to pull out the special item she had entrusted her with for keeping an eye on. Then she headed towards Takuya and handed it out to him. She had to encourage him a little until he took it into his hands with a critical look.

He really didn't get it.

"We marked something for you. Have a certain look at it when you're back at home. Think about it. And when you found out, call me and I will tell you something," Yoshiko said and pointed onto the item in Takuya's hands.

"OK," he murmured, still feeling more and more question marks popping up above his head.

When Takuya wanted to ask Yoshiko for further details, she and Itsuko had already started to run back home. They were almost out of sight when Takuya gave in and decided just to follow the little girl's instructions. He sighed deeply, though, still not sure what to think about the item in his hands but then he hurried to pack it into his bag to make sure that no-one would see him carrying it.

\-----

Late at night. long after having dinner with his grandpa and doing homework, Takuya's eyes got attracted again by that strange item that Yoshiko had given him. He had put it out of his bag and placed it on the farthest corner of his desk. He still wasn't sure if the girls just wanted to make fun of him or if all of that really had something to do with Tarou and would be able to help. A few minutes later he jumped over the edge and grabbed the item to get it into the light of his desk lamp.

" _Girlfriend – Boyfriend_ ," Takuya silently read out the title of the pink, girlish looking magazine covered in pink sparkles and flowers, a cute anime-like mascot and a young girl showing some of the latest trendy fashion accessory decorating the cover. He really was embarrassed.

Takuya laughed and folded his hands in his neck. "What the heck should I do with that? Are they kidding me?" he wondered out loud.

Finally, curiosity won and he decided to give it a try. He opened the magazine right at the page which was marked with a pink post-it, a big black arrow drawn on it. The young man frowned when he read the headline of the marked page.

" _Just a good friend or maybe more? - Do the check below!_ \- What's THAT?!" Takuya wondered, even more, when he noticed another pink post-it with Yoshiko's handwriting on it.

" _Think about Aniki while doing this! Take it seriously!_ "

Takuya chuckled. That was ridiculous. He kept staring at the page. After a few more seconds of hesitation, he finally gave in, grabbed one of the pencils lying on his desk and got started.

The result of the test was shocking and illuminating at the same time. THAT explained a lot. At least at his side of the bridge. Actually, if Takuya was completely honest, it made absolute sense. He must have been blind, or maybe he just didn't want to admit the truth to himself. His obsession with his best friend, the strong wish to give him a present that would make Tarou think of him, the jealously he had felt when Tarou had voiced his discomfort regarding the possibility of Takuya and Takako dating.

But what should that help with the still existing problem that Tarou was suddenly interested in Takako? Somehow, he felt even worse now. 

Pouting, Takuya proceeded to flip through the pages of Yoshiko's magazine. He had to find out that Yoshiko's magazine had some quite interesting topics inside so he spent half of the night flipping through the pages, reading this or that. Still, he sighed deeply whenever Tarou popped up his mind.

TBC


	7. Part 6

Takuya's heart was beating faster than ever before when he left for university the next day. He felt pretty excited, confused and unease at the same time, double-checked his clothes and hairstyle in the mirror hanging in the hallway and made sure he put on the same kinds of shoes on his right as well as on his left foot.

He wondered how Tarou would act today. Would he still ignore Takuya and try to hide from him? And even more, Takuya wondered, how _he_ should act towards the boy now that he had found out something so essential last night. Should he tell him right away? Well, in front of all the other students that was really impossible and to be honest, Takuya didn't even know if he would be brave enough to confess. In his whole life, he had never before confessed to anyone. He had received confessions, sure, but he had never been on the given end before. And if Tarou would be acting towards him like he did the other day, Takuya would be turned down even before the last word of his confession left his lips. Suddenly, Takuya felt huge respect for everyone who had ever gathered all their courage to confess their love. 

Not knowing how he should react, he nevertheless tried to mentally prepare, just in case a good chance for a proper confession would present itself. He wanted to have something he could say that Tarou would believe. Something from the bottom of his heart, explaining everything clearly and conveying those feelings for the young man that he was now finally able to name.

\-----

All of Takuya's worries about how to react towards his best friend vanished as soon as classes started and Tarou didn't show up at university even after more than two hours. After turning around about every five minutes to the back of the lecturing hall and the entering door to check if Tarou would come later, the boy gave up but he instantly felt worried about Tarou. 

It was unusual for him to skip classes, after all. Very unusual. Was Tarou that upset with his best friend that he didn't want to come to classes? No, he wouldn't do something like that. His studies and his scholarship was too important to him. He just was a too exemplary student and took studies seriously. There must be another reason for it. What if something bad happened? Something to the Yamada family? An accident? Or was Tarou sick? 

All those thoughts weren't helping, Takuya became more and more worried, instead, cursing his heart for beating so fast that he couldn't focus on classes any longer. 

\-----

Classes couldn't end fast enough for Takuya on that day. After the professor in Agriculture gave the last instructions for the upcoming homework and Takuya had stuffed in a spare script for handing it to Tarou, he left the building in a hurry.

Instead of heading home straight away, Takuya decided to call the Yamada's first. He went into a park near the campus, sat down on a bench and pulled out his cell phone as well as that pinkish magazine, Yoshiko had given him the other day. That made two reasons to call the Yamadas. First, to make sure that Tarou and his family were fine and second, to give Yoshiko the call she told Takuya to give her after he had found out about _the thing_ between him and the girl's oldest brother. Slightly embarrassed, the young man turned the magazine's pages until he found what he'd been searching for. Then he took a deep breath and pressed the speed dial to the Yamadas.

Free line signal for about half a minute. Then, finally, someone picked up and Takuya's heart skipped a beat.

"This is Yamada speaking, how can I help you?" it was Tarou's mother who picked up the phone.

"Yamada-san!" Takuya replied. "How are you? This is Mimura speaking."

"Ah, Mimura-kun! Thanks, I'm fine and how about you?" the woman answered friendly.

"Fine as well, I guess," Takuya said even if he wasn't so sure about that. Then he got straight to the point. "The reason why I'm calling is that Tarou-kun didn't show up at university today, so I wanted to ask if everything is OK with him?" Takuya asked worried with that fast-beating heart in his chest.

"Oh..." that didn't sound really good. "I should have known that you're calling because of him. It seems he has caught a heavy cold and a fever so we had to force him to stay in bed this morning."

"He's sick?!" Takuya's fears had come true. "Is it that bad? Does he need to go to the hospital?"

"Don't worry, Mimura-kun," Tarou's mother tried to calm down the young man. "A doctor from the neighbourhood already had a look at him and it doesn't seem to be that bad. I'm sure he's alright again in a few days."

"Would you mind if I came around? I just want to check on him if that's OK," Takuya asked shyly.

"Sure, dear, no problem but he's probably still sleeping, I don't know when he's waking up again."

"That's OK. I just want to make sure he has got everything he needs," Takuya made clear immediately. "Should I bring something special along? Tea or medicine maybe? Do you need anything?"

"Thank you very much, Mimura-kun. Uhm... to be honest," Yamada-san hesitated a bit before she went on, "We could need some cooling pads to bring down Tarou's fever, I fear we just ran out of them."

Takuya nodded, even if he knew that the women at the other end of the line couldn't see him.

"All right. I'll be there as fast as I can! See you later, Yamada-san!"

Takuya hung up the call, the second season of why he wanted to call the Yamadas completely forgotten. After all, the most important thing right now was to make sure that Tarou became healthy again as quickly as possible. So, Takuya grabbed his backpack and didn't pay further attention at the pinkish magazine he forgot to return into his bag, the pages with the test he did last night still flapped open. There were some pencil circles around the capital letters in front of the answers for the questionnaire in the magazine.

\-----

At the same moment, Takuya entered the drugstore, his eyes searching for cooling pads as well as other stuff that would make Tarou feel better, Yoshiko entered the Yamada's home where her mother could be heard from the kitchen, screaming like some nervous schoolgirl who was trying to cook on her own for the first time in her life. Yoshiko sighed and put down her school bag before she went into the kitchen to save her mother.

"Mom, what are you doing?" she asked worried, raising an eyebrow at the image that entered her vision - a woman being scared of a cooking pot, not brave enough to take it from the hot plate.

Yoshiko turned off the heat and reached out for a pair of oven mitts Tarou had made so that she could touch the pot full of hot water without getting burnt.

"I'm trying to make tea," the girl's mother replied. "Mimura-kun is coming around. He wants to visit Tarou and will bring along some cooling pads. I wanted to offer him some tea at least and I thought it would be good if Tarou had something warm to drink as well when he wakes up again."

Yoshiko looked at her mother curiously. "Oh, Mimura-kun already called?"

"Yeah, he seemed pretty worried as your brother not showing up at university. And I think I worried him, even more, when I told him that Tarou is sick..."

"I see," Yoshiko nodded. Of course, this had been the reason Takuya called. But still, Yoshiko wondered if the young man had already taken the test she gave him and if he was ready to talk to her about it. "So how's Aniki? Did he sleep a lot?"

"Like a stone," her mother confirmed.

"Seems to need it, right? I hope he will get better soon," the young girl sighed.

"I hope so too, I’m really lost without him," Yoshiko's mother folded her hands and put on a desperate look.

"Stay strong, Mom! How are you supposed to survive if Aniki is getting married and moves out of here someday?" she pointed out while she finished preparing the tea.

Her mother froze.

"Oh, I... I was hoping that the person he will get married to will move in here as well," she answered shyly.

Yoshiko couldn't believe it when she heard this cute but also pretty naive wish of her mother. Sometimes, it was obvious where her older brother had gotten his genes from.

\-----

When Takuya arrived at the Yamada's house, he was exhausted. After taking a deep breath he knocked at the entrance which was opened immediately by the familiar face of Yoshiko She let him in and he nearly stumbled as he hurried to put off his shoes in the doorway. He stormed into the kitchen first and greeted Tarou's mother just a second before he pulled out some cooling pads and hurried into the living room. He nearly stumbled again - this time over Itsuko's school bag, who was already sitting at the table doing her homework like a good girl.

"Where is he?" Takuya asked the kids, who were playing silently, reading books of their elder brother or doing homework like Itsuko.

"Shhhhh!" Yoshiko hissed, giving Takuya a serious look. "Don't be so noisy, he's still asleep!"

She stood up from her place, put away the book she had been reading in and walked towards Takuya to pull on his sleeve and to drag him into another, much smaller room next to the living room.

Takuya wondered since he didn't know this room but Yoshiko quickly explained that this was their parents' barely used bedroom and that they let Tarou lay down here so that he could sleep peacefully while all of the other kids were noisy and busy in the living room and their mother rummaging in the kitchen.

Takuya pinned his eyes onto his friend immediately. Tarou was lying on the ground, wrapped into a warm futon, pale like the moon in a dark night, looking exhausted and sick. Takuya's heart ached when he saw Tarou's eyebrows twitching and the boy started tossing and turning around while struggling with the blanket of the futon as if he was experiencing a nightmare he couldn’t escape from.

Takuya bent down and picked up some piece of fabric from the pillow which seemed to have been drenched in water. He assumed that this should have been a replacement for the missing cooling pads. It didn't feel cold any longer. He reached out his hand carefully and brushed Tarou's sticky hair out of the boy's forehead to feel how bad the fever was. It must be quite high from what Takuya could say. Poor Tarou. Takuya caressingly stroke Tarou's cheeks trying to calm the boy down a bit, whispering words like "don't worry, nothing will harm you" or "calm down, I'm here to watch over you".

It seemed to help and after a few seconds, Tarou seemed to relax and going back to a calmer sleep. Takuya sighed relieved. Then, he unwrapped one of the cooling pads and carefully stuck it onto Tarou's forehead, seeing the boy relax even more, immediately. He smiled gently.

Yoshiko stayed at Takuya's side, watching his actions closely while the young man was taking care of her brother. When he slowly reached for Tarou's hand and intertwined their fingers, naturally, he blushed a little when Tarou sleepily squeezed back. Yoshiko was smiling gently at her brother and his friend. Right now, it seemed to be the right timing to clarify something.

"Listen, Mimura-kun," she began in a whispering voice since she didn't intend to wake up her brother.

The young man looked at her with questioning eyes, not moving his and Tarou's entwined hands. The girl answered his look with a nice smile and gentle eyes.

"How would you describe your feelings towards my brother?" she asked.

Takuya smiled and blushed again.

"I think you already know, don't you? You're such a clever girl," he answered and Yoshiko nodded, her eyes shining.

She robbed a bit closer towards Takuya and held her hand towards the young man's ear so that she could whisper even more quietly, "I think since my brother is pretty helpless, I should tell you something about his feelings as well..."

TBC


	8. Part 7

Takuya had a hard time to believe in Yoshiko's suspicion about Tarou being in love with him as well, but once he allowed that thought into his head, he blushed badly, even more, when he realized that Tarou in his sleep was still clinging to his hand. 

The young man didn't wake up before Takuya left to go home. There was still homework left he had to do and his grandpa might worry if the boy didn't get home for dinner. Takuya left behind the script from university so that Tarou could add it to his stuff or have a brief look at it when he felt better. Takuya said good-bye to the Yamadas and told them that he wanted to visit again the next day. He exchanged knowing looks with Yoshiko when he left, thinking about his plan to give his best to get Tarou up again as soon as possible so that he could invite him over on the weekend when he had already planned something special for his best friend.

On his way home, Takuya thought about Yoshiko's words again to encourage himself and his nervous beating heart about his plan for the upcoming weekend and Tarou's birthday.

 _"I think he really likes you. The same way you like him,"_ Yoshiko had whispered into his ear a few hours ago, _"He just doesn't know how to put it into words, you know? He's shy sometimes especially if he himself is the one concerned. You know that, don't you? I think you should take the first step."_

Takuya had to agree with her. He was confident about his feelings towards Tarou now and he definitely wanted to tell him. But not while the boy was sick and confused by a fever. Instead, he wanted to tell Tarou at the right timing at the right place, somewhere and somewhen so that the boy would never forget his confession.

\-----

Tarou's fever turned out to be quite persistent. Even on Friday, it was still there and the boy looked pretty exhausted and tired when Takuya found him awake, sitting in the living room of the Yamadas at the table eating a cup of soup. He was wrapped up in a blanket and his face looked thin and pale. Takuya had the feeling that it turned red when he entered the room sitting down next to his friend. Did he shyly look away? How cute!

Takuya had realised that all of Tarou's recent actions towards him could easily be interpreted. He had bee shy towards him, avoiding direct eye contact but on the other hand, he had been watching him closely as soon as he thought that Takuya wouldn't notice. He had cringed slightly when Takuya touched him (unintentionally or on purpose), as if he was being hypersensitive to Takuya, and the cutest thing of all was how his cheeks and the tips of his ears turning red whenever he got nervous about something Takuya did or said.

All of this added to Takuya's confidence regarding his plans to confess to Tarou, but still, he didn't want to rush it. 

"Are you feeling better today? Let me just-" Takuya asked and freely put his hand onto Tarou's forehead to check the temperature. Tarou backed off a bit surprised but didn't push Takuya away. "I see, it's not gone completely but it's better, right?"

Tarou nodded. "Thanks to you for taking such good care of me I already feel much better."

Takuya smiled. Then he cleared his throat before he leant over to his friend, a bit shy.

"Do you think you feel good enough tomorrow to come over to my place?" he whispered into Tarou's ear, making sure that no one else in the house could hear his invitation.

"Huh?" Tarou looked at him. "You want to study for university or something? Well, I missed a lot so I could need it but don't you wanna study here instead? OK, I know it's a bit noisy..."

Not only a bit but fact aside – Takuya tried to interrupt Tarou as soon as he could, "Wait, wait, this has got nothing to do with studying Tarou-kun!"

The boy laughed. Was it possible that Tarou had forgotten?

"Tomorrow is your birthday, isn't it?"

"Oh!" Tarou's eyes widened.

Takuya laughed again and bend even closer to whisper into his friend's ear again.

"I would like to celebrate your birthday together, but just the two of us, you know? Of course, only if you want to. I've got a surprise for you."

Tarou lifted his left hand to scratch his temple, maybe to hide his embarrassment of the closeness between them, "Ok... Well, I think I can come tomorrow."

"Great, so let's say around five?" the other smiled happily. "And make sure that your siblings don't come along, this will be only for you!"

Of course, Takuya had informed Yamada-san as well about his plans. Takuya had promised her to bring back her son safely after celebrating his birthday. She had simply smiled and nodded.

\-----

The next day, Tarou was happy to find out that his fever had finally vanished. Even if he was a bit nervous because he didn't know what Takuya was planning, he was looking forward to his birthday celebration. Usually, his birthday was a quite stressful event. Tarou's siblings were all trying to make food and take care of the house to give their brother at least one day off. In fact though, in the end, Tarou was always the one comforting the youngest ones after burning the meat and cleaning up the mess behind the youngsters that they had created while "cleaning".

This time, though, Yoshiko managed to cook a not so bad meal while Itsuko and the older boys preferred to play instead of cleaning and so the ultimate chaos could be prevented. The whole family ate lunch together. Tarou praised Yoshiko for her improved cooking skills and they had some tea while every family member handed Tarou a little self-made birthday present like folded origami cranes for good luck and health or a self-drawn picture of the whole family done by the youngest ones. Tarou laughed when he found out that there was one extra person drawn on the picture and Itsuko explained for the youngest that this - of course - was supposed to be Mimura-kun. It seemed like everyone had already accepted their brother's best friend as part of the Yamada family. Somehow this felt really good, Tarou had to admit.

Afterwards, the young man needed some time on his own to decide what to wear for his visit to Takuya's place. Somehow, he felt the urge to look good. For Takuya? He was still a little confused over his own feelings. 

After checking his few clothes all laid out in front of him for the first time in his life, Tarou realised once more that his family was poor. Somehow just now he realised the difference between him and other people, the difference between him and Takuya. If it would really be OK to wear worn-out pullovers and a pair of really old jeans? 

These kinds of thoughts were new to Tarou since he had never really bothered about how he looked like in front of others. For Tarou, practicability had always won over fashion. He had even opened Takuya the door wearing his dirty cleaning clothes in the past and he had never felt ashamed for wearing second-hand clothes which were common in this family anyway. But this time, it was different. He wanted to stand out. He wanted Takuya to think that Tarou was... well, maybe not good-looking, but at least presentable and no-one to be ashamed to be around. Not, that Takuya had ever complained about anything Tarou had been wearing. Maybe, Tarou was thinking too much, but he figured, that he could never go wrong with dressing up a little bit for an occasion.

It took the boy a while until he had decided on something but in the end, he was quite satisfied and left the house dressed in his best sweater, his best pair of jeans and his best scarf that he wrapped around his neck not as a fashion item but because his throat was still feeling a bit sore from his cold.

Of course, his siblings had been curious where their brother was going to, clinging to him before he left, asking question after question but Tarou hadn't told anyone except his mother, that Takuya had invited him over for a small birthday surprise.

While Tarou walked down the street, a food delivery guy crossed his path, fully packed with food boxes from the near Chinese restaurant smelling of chicken, duck, pork and other delicious stuff. Tarou turned, curiously, to look where the delivery man went to and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he found out that his goal was the Yamada's house!

"Yamada-san, I've got a delivery for you, alongside a message - best wishes and enjoy your meal from... Mimura Takuya!" the man read from a small piece of paper as Tarou's mom surprised but happily signed the receipt of the order with her stamp.

The kids fell into excited screaming and almost brought the poor delivery man to fall when they reached out for the delicious smelling food.

Tarou laughed and turned around again, aware that he had to hurry a bit so that he didn't come late.

"Nice tactic, Takuya-kun," he murmured with a smirk as he pulled his scarf a bit tighter around his neck when the wind picked up. Now his siblings would be able to sleep with a full stomach this evening and his own mind was at peace.

\-----

As soon as Tarou stood in front of the Mimura's mansion and had rung the doorbell, his nervousness returned full force and even worse than before. It didn't take long until Takuya came to pick him up from the gate. He looked gorgeous and handsome in his tight jeans and a black V-necked shirt combined with a light jacket as well as wearing a wide and soft smile. Tarou swallowed. Had Takuya always looked that good or had he simply been blind?

"Tarou-kun! Just in time! You look good today, do you feel better?" the young man asked and Tarou nodded smiling. They started walking towards the house and as soon as they entered, Tarou could smell freshly cooked dinner.

"You didn't eat dinner yet, did you? I prepared something for us," Takuya explained and his eyes lightened up. 

“Really?!” Tarou was surprised. "I only had lunch and tea, so I'm sure I'll be hungry again soon enough." His growling stomach already confirmed that prediction.

"That's great! Come on, we will eat in my room," Takuya smiled.

He grabbed Tarou's hand and dragged him through the Mimura's house before the young man could complain. They greeted a few of the Mimura's employees here and there as well as Takuya's grandpa, who crossed their way as well.

"Take a seat and make yourself at home, I'll serve dinner in a minute," Takuya pointed at the really comfortable looking seat cushions on the floor.

The table was already set with plates, glasses, a bottle of wine even, and there were candles, lighting up Takuya's room as the only light source, filling it with a romantic atmosphere as the daylight outside was slowly vanishing, dusk replacing it. In the middle of the room, there was a small but beautiful ikebana arrangement which must have been made by Takuya himself. The colourful and artistically arranged flowers were reflecting the candlelight and like always, Tarou admired Takuya for being able to create something so beautiful with his own hands.

Tarou wondered what exactly was going on. Somehow, it felt more like a romantic dinner than a meeting between friends. Wasn't this supposed to be a birthday party? 

"Take care, it's still hot!" 

Suddenly, Takuya appeared behind him. He put some fish and potatoes onto Tarou's plate.

"Ooooh!" Tarou gaped in surprise. "Don't tell me, you really cooked this on your own!" 

The younger man laughed when he saw the food and yes, he was pretty sure that Takuya had at least _tried_ to make it on his own. It didn't really look very appealing, to be honest. The fish had fallen apart and the potatoes were peeled and cut into very different sized pieces.

Takuya sat down at the other side of the table and put some food onto his own plate as well. Tarou wasn't sure because the light was dim, but for a moment he thought he had seen Takuya blush. At least, he looked at Tarou with an embarrassed look and pouted cutely.

"Don't laugh! I really tried my best! And you'll see, it will taste good! I strictly followed the instructions of our chef!"

"You really did it on your own, I'm impressed, Takuya-kun!" Tarou praised his friend.

He knew that this must have been a quite difficult task for the young man. Of course, Tarou was highly experienced in cooking (maybe not expensive stuff but so far, he had always managed to keep his whole family alive with his cooking) but for Takuya, who grew up with personnel that did all the cooking for him, this must have been an exception. Knowing this, Tarou was curious to try his friend's cooking attempts. At least, the food smelled absolutely delicious, he thought, when the scent of different spices and herbs filled the room. Tarou couldn't wait to taste it.

"I hope you like it, I made it just for you to celebrate your birthday, Tarou-kun so... Happy Birthday!" Takuya congratulated. "Let's have some wine for celebration," he poured some of the wine into their glasses and handed one to Tarou who took it with both hands

“Aren't we... I mean, I've just turned 20 so actually,” Tarou started but Takuya lifted his hand with a smile.

“I know, technically, we're a bit too young for alcohol but it's just the two of us and it's just one glass. You don't need to drink it, of course, if you don't want to. I can get you some orange juice or whatever you like.”

Tarou looked from Takuya to the glass of wine in his hands again, impressed since he had never tasted alcohol before. 

"I guess, one glass should be fine,” the young man replied after contemplating for a bit, curiosity winning. “Thank you so much, Takuya-kun! What a nice surprise, dinner cooked by my -" Tarou and Takuya clinked glasses and looked into each other’s eyes, "- best friend."

After a short moment of silence, Takuya cleared his throat and tasted the wine before he put the glass back onto the table. He had to pull himself together to not scream out loud that he could be so much more than only Tarou's _best friend_ if the other would just let him, but if he spilt out his confession now in a rush, he would mess up the perfect plan he had thought up. So, he tried to start some chit-chat instead, in order to keep up a conversation between them until they had finished dinner.

For Takuya, it was the best feeling ever to watch Tarou enjoying his self-made meal. The young man couldn't stop praising Takuya, who desperately tried to stop his friend, so he wouldn't die from the mixture of happiness and embarrassment spreading in his chest. In the end, Takuya just put a proud smile on his face. The dessert – self-made vanilla pudding with heated raspberries - made Tarou shine even more and Takuya's heart was close to overspilling with love.

Tarou thoroughly enjoyed every bite of his meal. He didn't get the chance to eat desserts very often, so this dinner was really something special. And even better than this special dinner was the fact that by now, even the last bit of awkwardness that had been building up between him and Takuya recently seemed to have completely vanished again. Or at least, it had been replaced by another kind of feeling. Warmth and excitement. The good kind of it.

\-----

It didn't take long until Tarou's and Takuya's bellies were filled and both of them sighed happily while drinking the last drops of wine. Fortunately, they really had stopped after the first glass, because Tarou could already feel how the alcohol started to confuse his mind – just a little bit but still – and he knew what alcohol could do to people if they drank too much. He didn't have any intention to follow that example, so the glass to taste with the food had been perfect and enough. Tarou couldn't deny, though, that he was feeling a bit lighter, even if he wasn't sure if this was the alcohol or the whole atmosphere.

Takuya's heart started beating faster. Now that dinner was finished, there was still one part of his plan left. He looked at Tarou who had leaned back onto the floor, giggling a bit to himself – maybe because of his first glass of wine ever in his whole life. Takuya chuckled. At least, he had managed to make Tarou laugh again. It had taken long enough...

"You know," Takuya started as he put the empty plates aside. "I've got another surprise for you!"

"What?" Tarou sat up again, looking at his friend with surprised puppy-eyes. "There is more than gorgeous self-made dinner?! I didn't expect that!"

Takuya grinned. "Wouldn't be a surprise if you would have expected, right? Wait here, I'll go get it," the young man stood up, taking the plates with him and left the room for a few minutes.

Tarou wondered what kind of surprise it could be. They had had dinner _and_ dessert – he even ate a second serving of pudding just to make sure he remembered that taste forever – so what could be left?

It took Takuya a few minutes until he returned.

"Tarou-kun, look!"

The young man's eyes widened as he saw what Takuya had brought with him. He took a deep breath. Takuya closed the door behind him and went a few steps closer before he knelt down in front of Tarou. He was holding a tiny ball of fur in his arms, shy and adorable. It started to meow and Tarou couldn't hold back an enraptured "Ooooooooh!"

"It's for you!" 

Takuya smiled when he recognized the same shine in Tarou's eyes as the one he had seen when Tarou had looked at the kittens in front of the pet shop the other day and assured him with a nod to take the small, red-white striped, blue-eyed kitten from Takuya's into his own arms.

"What... a kitten? You got me a kitten?" Tarou couldn't believe it. He took the little cute fur ball with its big eyes, cute perky ears and adorable paws into his hands, placed it on top of his lap and immediately started to scratch it behind the ears. "It is so so cute!"

The little kitten started to purr and Tarou giggled happily. Then, he looked at Takuya, his facial expression happy but somehow a bit sad the same time. 

"I really, really wished for a pet for such a long time but..."

"Don't worry!” Takuya immediately intervened. “You don't have to pay for the cat food or the animal doctor! I'll bear all of the costs and the kitten can stay at my place so you don't have to worry about it," he said. "You just have to come to visit it at my place... and you can come here as often as you like."

Tarou couldn't stand it any longer. How could someone do something so sweet for him? He leaned forward, carefully setting the little kitten free onto the floor so that it could start examining the room. 

He then came a bit closer to Takuya, their eyes met and Tarou wasn't even sure what exactly he was going to do until a few seconds later his lips shyly touched Takuya's. Just for a short moment... 

He backed off again, blushing badly and bowing in front of his friend, apologizing for what felt like a hundred times.

"I-I'm so sorry, Takuya-kun, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I'm sorry, really!"

But instead of yelling at him or saying Tarou should stop doing such disgusting things, Takuya didn't react at all, at first. In fact, he was too shocked. Shocked because he couldn't believe Tarou's sudden acting, shocked because he couldn't get his head around the fact that the one he loved just _kissed_ him and shocked because that meant that...

"Tarou! You messed up my confession!" he blurted out suddenly, his eyes widened in disbelieve.

Tarou lifted his head from the floor and blinked confused. "Wha-What?!"

Takuya put his hands onto Tarou's shoulders and pulled the smaller one into a tight hug. He buried one hand in Tarou's hair and giggled before he whispered into Tarou's ear, "You're really troubling me..."

Slowly and still a bit confused and insecure, Tarou lifted his hands and answered his best friend's hug pressing them closer together. He could feel his heart beating fast against Takuya's chest and answered a whispered, "I'm sorry for troubling you."

"Don't worry, since I love you, you're allowed to trouble me. But from now on you have to bear the consequences."

Of course, it turned out that Tarou didn't really mind bearing the consequences since that meant that Takuya claimed for his lips and didn't want to let go off him anymore. Even if the two young men weren't much experienced in stuff like this yet, they found that they were enjoying the new-found closeness. More than that, finally, at least a few of Tarou's unanswered questions like "how would it feel like to hug the one I love", "how would it feel like to get told that he loves me" and "how would it feel like to kiss him" got answered for the time being.

"So, that you're dating Ikegami-san really was just a misunderstanding?" Tarou asked whispering when they tore apart.

Takuya didn't stop caressing Tarou's face, "Of course it was just a misunderstanding."

Tarou laughed a bit shyly, examining the floor. "I was so stupid but," he looked up right into Takuya's eyes and smirked, "you thought I would be interested in Ikegami-san as well!"

"Well, somehow it seems like I misunderstood as well, so we are square, I guess," Takuya cleared his throat.

"Good," Tarou replied with a smile.

And again, they kissed.

Tarou sighed, happily. This was the best birthday ever. And he was the happiest person on earth.

\-----

"Did you decide on a name?" Takuya asked, hugging Tarou from behind as they sat on the floor about an hour later. 

Tarou was playing with the kitten which was crawling over the young man's feet, trying to catch the shadows in his jeans' folds. 

Tarou giggled and leaned back into Takuya's arms while picking up the kitten so he could place it onto his lap for petting it again. 

"Since you're the one who gave it to me as a present, I'll name it after you," Tarou said.

"What, really?!" Takuya laughed. "But then you will mix us and you know, actually, it's a girl!"

"Oh, it is? Ah, I don't know that much about cats so far, I'm sorry, how embarrassing," the young man said, looking at the little kitten. "Well then... I will call it Tacchan. That's neutral and since it's a nickname I won't mix you two up!"

"Sounds cute, Tacchan, really!"

"Right?" Tarou smiled.

Tarou earned a small kiss onto his head and enjoyed the next few hours curled up in Takuya's hug, playing with his new little kitten. He didn't know yet, that soon, not only the kitten would look at him when he called its name but also Takuya would listen when Tarou called for "Tacchan". However, he wouldn't mind cuddling with both of them – his boyfriend and their cute little kitten - anyway.

TBC (Epilogue)


	9. Epilogue

When Takuya brought Tarou back home late that evening, Yoshiko was still awake. It seemed like she had been waiting for her brother. Or better said, she had been waiting for Takuya who earned a serious look from Tarou's little sister.

"What is it, Yoshiko-chan?" he asked, unknowingly, as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I almost forgot to tell you," the girl began, "Akiko reminded me that she wants her magazine back. So if you don't mind, please give it to me!"

"Magazine?" Tarou asked, looking at Takuya curiously.

Takuya froze. The magazine... He thought about it but somehow, he couldn't remember where he had left it. Wait. Didn't he bring it to university the day after he did that love-test?

"AH!" he remembered. "I must have lost it in the park near the campus!"

"What?!" Yoshiko was shocked. "You lost it?!"

"I'm so sorry, Yoshiko-chan!" Takuya bowed deeply in front of the little girl.

"Well, it can't be helped," she sighed. "But you owe Akiko at least 300 yen!"

Takuya smiled and rummaged in the pocket of his jeans for something. Shortly after, he pulled out a 500 Yen coin and put it into Yoshiko's palm.

"You can keep the rest, little cupid," the young man whispered and grinning, Yoshiko pushed the coin into her pocket.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to my readers and in particular my 2012 readers who also commented on my fanfiction and followed it with every new chapter (when I posted it on lj for the first time, years ago)! *hugs you all*
> 
> Thanks to:  
> akemi_can, amnos13, anayid_kid, anocas_9, br_arashi, chibipinkpetals, dorayaki_chan, janinebr, jaricchi, lakukuli, nino4ever, salarygyaru, shilriarizz, tegomisa, valee94, yamasho and every other reader <3 Thank you for your support!


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